The informant said the father killed his eldest daughter while his wife was away on business and then killed his son because he had witnessed the murder.When his wife returned the man told her they had 'meat' but she became suspicious and contacted officials who discovered part of the children's bodies.

Ah, the old our-children-are-missing-but-we-have-plenty-of-meat gambit. I can't say I've never tried it.

It is. It's as democratic of a republic as the German Democratic Republic, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Democratic Kampuchea, the Somali Democratic Republic, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, or the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.

violentsalvation:GAT_00: Of all the people running this story we go with the goddamn Daily Fail? Jesus farking Christ.

So it is actually a real story?

The source is considered legitimate. From what Reddit dug up - the link they have is a pay site, so it was reposted - the source is Asia Press, which runs citizen reporters. This is that link, the source of which is this. The BBC has in the past used them as a source on NK activity, so I'm willing to consider this as provable as possible.

A FATHER in North Korea is reported to have been executed by firing squad after murdering his two children to eat them during a "hidden famine" that may have killed more than 10,000 people last year.

In a litany of horrors documented by undercover reporters, another man dug up his grandchild's corpse for food and a third, driven mad by hunger, boiled his own child and ate the flesh.

The stories were collected by Asia Press, a specialist news agency based in Osaka, Japan, which has a network of "citizen journalists" inside North Korea and is regarded as credible.

Dozens of interviews and clandestine reports have led it to conclude that "considerable numbers of people" - probably more than 10,000 - have died in North and South Hwanghae provinces, south of Pyongyang, the capital.

North Korea has not officially confirmed any deaths. A government-supervised mission by the UN last September reported a food surplus in both provinces, yet the clandestine reporting depicts a pattern of misery and death while Kim Jong-un, the country's leader, spent lavishly on banquets and missile tests. One informant, an official in South Hwanghae, said: "In my village in May, a man who killed his own two children and tried to eat them was executed by a firing squad.

"While his wife was away on business he killed his eldest daughter and, because his son saw what he had done, he killed his son as well. When the wife came home, he offered her food, saying: 'We have meat.'

"But his wife, suspicious, notified the Ministry of Public Security, which led to the discovery of part of their children's bodies under the eaves."

In its detailed 12-page report, Asia Press identifies reporters and sources by pseudonyms. "Particularly shocking were the numerous testimonies that hit us about cannibalism," said the agency's Jiro Ishimaru.

Gu Gwang-ho, one of the reporters in North Korea, wrote: "There was an incident when a man was arrested for digging up the grave of his grandchild and eating the remains."

In May in Haeju, South Hwanghae's main city, a man who had killed 11 people and sold the meat as pork was executed by firing squad.

"In a village in Chongdan county, a man who went mad with hunger boiled his own child, ate his flesh and was arrested," said a mid-ranking official of the ruling Korean Workers Party.

These incidents reportedly took place as Mr Kim, 30, marked his ascent to power with a new image, a glamorous wife and two costly rocket launches.

Last week, he followed these with a defiant pledge to retaliate against the latest UN sanctions by staging a third nuclear weapons test "aimed at the United States".

Early last year, officials confiscated food from farm collectives in North and South Hwanghae to supply the army and reward the privileged residents of Pyongyang for their loyalty to the Kim dynasty, the undercover reporters say.

But then a drought struck and, from April to June, farmers and their families in these "breadbasket" provinces began to die.

"One family was completely wiped out, everyone died of starvation, while another family gave up hope of living and killed themselves," said Gu.

A hospital administrator said there was no wood for coffins or cremations, so the dead had been wrapped in straw mats and tipped into an unmarked common grave.

"The farming villages I visited from May to June were in such a tragic state that I had to cover my eyes," the party official added. "There was no food at all. Casting out elderly parents or abandoning children was nothing rare."

"Political waste" on celebrations and extra rations for Pyongyang were key factors, according to the reporters. Mr Kim, a plump, beaming figure, ordered new apartment blocks, imported equipment for a fairground and a dolphinarium, staged lavish festivities and appeared at a pop concert with his pregnant wife.

"The smooth transfer of power . . . was the top priority," according to the reporters. The famine in the Hwanghae provinces has passed its peak, the reports say. It is probable that when the UN team visited the area in the autumn, it was shown no evidence of it.

Japanese government sources say North Korea has developed a compact nuclear weapon that can fit on to a missile capable of reaching the US's west coast. The device may be equal in force to the atomic bomb that destroyed the city of Nagasaki in 1945, the sources told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

As Mr Kim celebrates his first year in power, it is clear thousands have paid for his adventures.

Not that this would ever, you know, HAPPEN, but I do wonder about the possible ramifications of a major shift in political ties. Let's just say Lil' Kim grows a conscience, and decides he's sick of his people starving to death and resorting to cannibalism, so he comes out publicly and agrees to cooperate with the UN and NATO in exchange for aid.

Does China get frogy and march in troops? Do his own generals take him our for being weak, possibly before the move? I do remember him having to perform that "show of force" before his dad named him the heir apparent and shelled some apartments, so that's possible.

We should just start dropping food packages over there from HALO drop height; they may see it coming but they (probably) won't be able to do anything about it. I'm sure we've got plenty of MREs to spare...

Shadowknight:Does China get frogy and march in troops? Do his own generals take him our for being weak, possibly before the move?

It's more likely that China nudges them in the direction of gradual capitalist reform. The same reforms that saved the people's republic from from mass starvation. It is a common problem in communist states. Lax enforcement of communist laws against private sales of produce is the only thing keeping Cuba from being NK.

sminkypinky:The US should invade and impose democracy - you know, like they did in afghanistan, iraq... They were so successful, I'm sure that it would be fine.Hang on - no oil there - so fukem.

Not that you're not right, but don't forget that while China treats them like an unruly stepchild from a forgotten marriage most of the time, they do OFFICIALLY support them. Going in to NK would start WWIII.

What the hell are they thinking? Killing their kids for food. That's just wrong. This is why Best Korea will never truly be best.If they want to end the food shortage in an effective manner then the kids should kill the parents. Parents are bigger and provide more food. Plus kids are small and eat less, so it lasts even longer. It's not that difficult of a concept to grasp. What the hell do you think refrigerators are for? I'm sure they have some.

ladyfortuna:We should just start dropping food packages over there from HALO drop height; they may see it coming but they (probably) won't be able to do anything about it. I'm sure we've got plenty of MREs to spare...

They've got plenty of SAMs that can engage aircraft well above HALO altitudes. Maybe if we dropped them from the ISS? Or just used our old ICBMs.

violentsalvation: The third item in "Recent News" on that site is from March 2012. There are no stories on the whole front page that deal with cannibalism, though three of them deal with famine in Hwanghae province. In investigating this site, I was never asked to pay anything, but was always shown full stories without providing any information from the client side whatsoever.

So: Not a pay site, in the context you describe. Doesn't contain the story you posted. Does list Hwanghae famine, but describes much more rational and human reactions like "die", rather than extremist positions like "make your children die".

Cannibalism sounds like a perfect solution to me: they like slogans there, I suggest Each One Eats One. And it's even better that some cannibals get caught and shot, that way they can pretend they disapprove. But, like, the people they execute for cannibalizing their Loved Ones, what do they do with the bodies? It'd be a shame to let that meat go to waste with all the hungry people with guns & bullets around.